Baylis-Hillman

Apart from the thoroughly studied aqueous Diels-Alder reaction, a limited number of other transformations have been reported to benefit considerably from the use of water. These include the aldol condensation , the benzoin condensation , the Baylis-Hillman reaction (tertiary-amine catalysed coupling of aldehydes with acrylic acid derivatives) and pericyclic reactions like the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition and the Qaisen rearrangement (see below). These reactions have one thing in common a negative volume of activation. This observation has tempted many authors to propose hydrophobic effects as primary cause of ftie observed rate enhancements. 

BAYLIS - HILLMAN Vinyl alkylation Amine catalyzed converelon of acrylates to a-(hydroxyalkyl) acrylates or of vinyl ketones to a-(hydroxyalkyO vinyl ketones. 

An alkene activated by an electron-withdrawing group—often an acrylic ester 2 is used—can react with an aldehyde or ketone 1 in the presence of catalytic amounts of a tertiary amine, to yield an a-hydroxyalkylated product. This reaction, known as the Baylis-Hillman reaction, leads to the formation of useful multifunctional products, e.g. o -methylene-/3-hydroxy carbonyl compounds 3 with a chiral carbon center and various options for consecutive reactions. 

Together with a shift of the proton from the a-carbon to the alkoxide oxygen, the tertiary amine is eliminated from the addition product to yield the unsaturated product 3. Early examples of the Baylis-Hillman reaction posed the problem of low conversions and slow reaction kinetics, which could not be improved with the use of simple tertiary amines. The search for catalytically active substances led to more properly adjusted, often highly specific compounds, with shorter reaction times." Suitable catalysts are, for example, the nucleophilic, sterically less hindered bases diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO) 6, quinuclidin-3-one 7 and quinuclidin-3-ol (3-QDL) 8. The latter compound can stabilize the zwitterionic intermediate through hydrogen bonding. ... 

Apart from tertiary amines, the reaction may be catalyzed by phosphines, e.g. tri- -butylphosphine or by diethylaluminium iodide." When a chiral catalyst, such as quinuclidin-3-ol 8 is used in enantiomerically enriched form, an asymmetric Baylis-Hillman reaction is possible. In the reaction of ethyl vinyl ketone with an aromatic aldehyde in the presence of one enantiomer of a chiral 3-(hydroxybenzyl)-pyrrolizidine as base, the coupling product has been obtained in enantiomeric excess of up to 70%, e.g. 11 from 9 - -10 ... 

An intramolecular variant of the Baylis-Hillman reaction is also possible, and may be used for the construction of functionalized ring systems, e.g. a cyclopen-tene derivative such as 12. However, good yields have been achieved in only a few cases ... 

The Baylis-Hillman reaction is usually carried out under mild conditions (0°C or room temperature). The reaction time varies from a few minutes to even days. With the proper catalyst, good yields are possible. In the absence of an aldehyde or ketone as the electrophilic component, a dimerization of the activated alkene can take place under the influence of the catalyst, as also observed as a side reaction under the usual reaction conditions ... 

Conjugate dcLiicii of nkro ilkdnes to illyl Baylis-Hillman acetates in the pesence of NaOH (0.6 N in THF ves 2-alkylidene-4-nitro ketones with high sieteoselecdvity these are convened via the Nef teacdon into the conesponding 1,4-diketones fEq. 4.1... 

In the presence of a base such as l,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO) or tri-alkylphosphines, conjugated carbonyl compounds such as esters and amides add to aldehydes via the a-carbon to give a-alkenyl-P-hydroxy esters or amides. This sequence is called the Baylis-Hillman reaction and a simple example is... 

Addition of conjugated alkenes to aldehydes (the Baylis-Hillman reaction)... 

When aryl acrylates and phenyl salicylates react with aliphatic aldehydes in the presence of DABCO, the normal Baylis-Hillman product (39) often reacts further to give the acetal (40) <96TL1715,96TL3755>. 

The aziridine aldehyde 56 undergoes a facile Baylis-Hillman reaction with methyl or ethyl acrylate, acrylonitrile, methyl vinyl ketone, and vinyl sulfone [60]. The adducts 57 were obtained as mixtures of syn- and anfz-diastereomers. The synthetic utility of the Baylis-Hillman adducts was also investigated. With acetic anhydride in pyridine an SN2 -type substitution of the initially formed allylic acetate by an acetoxy group takes place to give product 58. Nucleophilic reactions of this product with, e. g., morpholine, thiol/Et3N, or sodium azide in DMSO resulted in an apparent displacement of the acetoxy group. Tentatively, this result may be explained by invoking the initial formation of an ionic intermediate 59, which is then followed by the reaction with the nucleophile as shown in Scheme 43. 

It should be noted that Baylis-Hillman reaction of Garner s aldehyde with methyl acrylate and DABCO results in racemization of the stereocenter of the amino aldehyde [61]. In the case of substrate 56 such racemization is seriously hampered due to the large inversion barrier in three-membered ring compounds [62]. 

Cu-catalysed additions of ZnEt2 to Baylis-Hillman-derived allylic electrophiles with BINOL-based thioether ligand. 

A new method has been developed for the synthesis of ( )-3-methyl Baylis-Hillman-type adducts with high E/Z (>93%) selectivity in modest to good yields. The process consists of two steps an indium-mediated allylation reaction and a simple base-catalyzed isomerization step (Eq. 8.61). Various aldehydes were allylated with allyl bromides using indium under very mild conditions in aqueous media and thus converted to the Baylis-Hillman-type adducts.150... 

Other catalysts have also been used. In aqueous media, imidazole was found to catalyze Baylis-Hillman reactions of cyclopent-2-enone... 

The asymmetric Baylis-Hillman reaction of sugar-derived aldehydes as chiral electrophiles with an activated olefin in dioxane water (1 1) proceeded with 36-86% de and in good yields of the corresponding glycosides (Eq. 10.47).104 The use of chiral /V-mcthylprolinol as a chiral base catalyst for the Baylis-Hillman reaction of aromatic aldehydes with ethyl acrylate or methyl vinyl ketone gave the adducts in good yields with moderate-to-good enantioselectivities in l,4-dioxane water (1 1, vol/vol) under ambient conditions.105... 

It should be noted that catalytic amounts of feA-arylureas and bis-arylthioureas greatly accelerated the DABCO-promoted Baylis-Hillman reaction of aromatic aldehydes with methyl acrylate in the absence of solvent. These robust organocatalysts were better mole-per-mole promoters of the reaction than either methanol or water and they were recovered in higher yields.106... 

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